The Hubble telescope is one of the most important achievements of human history. However, a new space telescope called the James Webb Telescope is being made. Most people call the James Webb telescope the successor of the Hubble telescope because its science goals were motivated by results from Hubble.

One reason that the James Webb telescope is different from the Hubble telescope is because it uses infrared to primarily observe the universe, while the Hubble studies it primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths (though it has some infrared capability). Webb also has a much bigger mirror than Hubble. This larger light collecting area means that Webb can peer farther back into time than Hubble is capable of doing. Hubble is in a very close orbit around the earth, while Webb will be 1.5 million kilometers away.

This picture shows what the Hubble is able to see (on the left), and what hopefully the James Webb will be able to see(on the right).

The people responsible for making this telescope is Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace. The James Webb space telescope is set to launch on May of 2020. Hopefully this project will be successful, for the future of science.

What does this have to do with engineering? This has to do with engineering because it is using current technology to make something new that will help the future generations understand more about our universe.

Link

https://jwst.nasa.gov/comparison_about.html